-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- For the second time in six months , Henrique Capriles Radonski will be in an electoral fight for the presidency of Venezuela .

His opponent is different this time , but the stakes may be even higher : What course will the South American country chart after the death of Hugo Chavez ?

In October , Capriles proved to be the strongest challenger the opposition ever fielded against Chavez , yet he still he lost to the charismatic leader by double-digits . But Chavez 's battle with cancer kept him from being sworn in , and he died March 5 .

On Sunday , Capriles will be in a contest against Nicolas Maduro , the interim president and the man Chavez picked as his successor .

Q&A : Venezuela 's presidential election

At age 40 , he has been a mayor , a parliament leader , and a governor of a major state who has been given a second chance to win the presidency .

`` I am seeking to win the confidence of all Venezuelans , '' Capriles said recently . `` I want a united country . I want Venezuelans to join together -LRB- and -RRB- work together with a single goal . ''

The most important issue , he says , is to tackle poverty .

Generous social programs are a foundation of the government that Chavez headed , and Capriles has that he will not do away with them . But he has promised to end the large subsidies that Venezuela provides to Chavez allies .

An attorney , Capriles was elected to parliament in 1998 , when Venezuela had a bicameral legislature .

He was just 25 years old at the time , but he quickly advanced to become the president of the Chamber of Deputies and then president of the entire Parliament .

But the bicameral legislature was dissolved in 1999 .

The following year , Capriles was elected mayor of Baruta , which is located in the state of Miranda and is a suburb in the Caracas metropolitan area .

He became mayor with more than 60 % of the vote .

In 2002 , he become involved in violent anti-government demonstrations outside the Cuban Embassy and spent four months in jail . He was eventually released and cleared of any wrongdoing .

He then was re-elected mayor with almost 80 % approval in 2004 .

In 2008 , he ran for governor of Miranda state and won .

Capriles ' grandparents were Polish Holocaust survivors , but he is a practicing Catholic , according to the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center .

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Henrique Capriles Radonski is running for president for the second time in six months

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Hugo Chavez defeated him in October

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After Chavez 's death , Capriles was tapped once again to represent the opposition